Friday Featured Art: Interior with Young Woman Tracing a Flower

Earlier this week we spent some time in St. Louis and revisited the St. Louis Art Museum. I thought that this painting was fun. The artist has a pet squirrel keeping her company!

Thursday Text: Kindle Fire

Our major joint Christmas gift this year was a Kindle Fire. It's pretty exciting. I downloaded this version of the complete works of Jane Austen for $.99!

Fan Chart

I finished our 6 generation family fan chart for Christmas. I used this template from Martha Stewart. I used a pretty script font, so the names our rather small - but it looks great on the wall. I made it 18"x24" and had it printed at an office store. So exciting!

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

One of the things that we got for Christmas was a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker from Williams-Sonoma. (It's on sale!) We tried it out on Christmas Eve, and it made some delicious ice cream!

Lone Star Lap Quilt

I hope that you all had a great Christmas. We sure did! This is the lap quilt that I made for my husband's grandma. I was in way over my head with the lone star pattern, but I found some great clips on YouTube that helped me out.

Friday Featured Art: The Magpie

Here's a wintery Monet to wish you Merry Christmas! It's called The Magpie, and it resides in the Musee D'Orsay.

Thursday Tunes: In the Bleak Midwinter

I really love the Christmas song In the Bleak Midwinter, so I was not surprised to see that it was written by Christina Rossetti with music by Gustav Holst (two people I love). Here's the text.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,

Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,

The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Onitsuka Tiger

I recently bought these Onitsuka Tiger sneakers by Asics from Zappos. Have you ever ordered anything from them? They are fantastic. Free shipping both ways, and orders often arrive the day after they are ordered. I ordered another pair of shoes that didn't quite fit, and it was very easy to exchange them.

Custom Wedding Printables

I found some fantastic free printables from The Wedding Chicks through How About Orange. They have some really great monograms, and you can even choose the colors!

Christmas.lds.org

The Church has a fabulous new web site for Christmas. It includes Christmas ideas and traditions, Christmas music, and Christmas videos. I thought that this one about a young Heber J. Grant was especially sweet and beautifully done. Find the site at christmas.lds.org.

Friday Featured Etsy Seller: Happy Little Artist

Etsy seller Happy Little Artist has some really great linocuts of the Salt Lake Temple. Sara told me about them when she bought the image on the bottom. I think I might get this one with the wheat image. They are really beautiful original designs.

1-2-3 Stitch!

Today was my last Jane Austen class. It was a lot of fun, and I am sad that it's over. It's given me a lot of good ideas, though! This web site has some really fabulous Jane Austen-themed cross-stitch patterns. (Just do a search for Jane Austen.) This little pillow looks like a fun project.

Embroidered Pillow

We had a Christmas decoration exchange last Friday, and we were supposed to make handmade gifts. I used some clip art to embroider this holly wreath on linen. I thought this little pillow turned out pretty cute.

Penhaligon's Scent Library

We really love Penhaligon's perfume/cologne, so we picked up the scent library the last time we were downtown. It has 10 scents for men and women. My husband has the large size of Blenheim Bouquet - it smells fantastic. Of the ones that I've tried, I really like Lily & Spice - a beautiful floral scent.

Friday Featured Art: White Wash

I have to feature Joe, again, because I just saw this painting on his site, and I love it. It's called "White Wash," and it reminds me of living in Missouri - there was an old vacant white house across the street from us, and I loved to look at it.

Thursday Text: The Mansion

President Monson mentioned a book called The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke during his talk for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday. It's an interesting old book with a great message for Christmas. This is the 100th anniversary of its printing. You can read an edition with some beautiful illustrations on Google Books here.

Hobby Lobby Flowers

Remember the cute little vase that I got at the barn sale? Here it is with some fantastic flowers from Hobby Lobby. They have really beautiful silk flowers and while they're kind of expensive, they're usually on sale. I just got three and cut off the stems and wired them together. I like how they turned out - I'll have to save up to make some more arrangements!

The Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos

Did you see the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday? It was really great. You can view it here. They introduced the new Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos that the Church has been working on. So exciting! Go here to preview.

Needlepoint iPad Case

I saw this cute needlepoint iPad case in Country Living. It's from Lands' End, and if I had an iPad I think this would be a pretty fun cover.

Friday Featured Art: H.M. Brock

In working on my latest class project, I discovered some fantastic tinted line drawings done by C.E. Brock and his brother H.M. Brock. This one is Elizabeth Bennet gazing on a portrait of Mr. Darcy at Pemberley (by H.M. Brock).

Thursday Tunes: I Vow To Thee My Country

I Vow To Thee My Country is a beautiful British hymn set to a variation of Holst's Jupiter theme. You can read the lyrics here. Below is fabulous Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins with her rendition.